Diabetes is an international health crisis that affects hundreds of millions of people, causing a death every nine seconds. In 2024 alone, diabetes care was estimated to have cost global health systems more than USD 1 trillion. And with rising rates, the Taiwanese government is working with Google on Health and Google Cloud to use AI to transform the way health services for people with type 2 diabetes are provided.
Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA )’s initiative uses Gemini and Google Cloud tools to adapt the care of 1.3 million Taiwanese who live with type 2 diabetes -with an ambitious goal of reaching over two million individuals by 2026.
Type 2 diabetes affects about one in ten Taiwanese people, although it can be prevented or reversible with the right lifestyle changes. Diabetes prices have continued to climb over the years and now represent one of the biggest cost burdens on the country’s health budget.
The Google Partnership allows NHIA to use AI to analyze two decades with NHIA tests, health claims and insurance data to provide personalized treatment plans. Its first initiative, AI-ON-DM (artificial intelligence for diabetes mellitus)At is built out on Google Cloud and categorizes individuals based on the severity of their condition. This categorization is integrated into the government’s universal family medical program 2.0, which will help provide adapted planning and care based on the individual’s risk assessment.
The second initiative, a Gemini-based AI agent integrated into the Taiwan My Health Bank app, will use the same information and authoritative, trusted diabetes content to provide personal guidance through their health journey.
“AI has the power to transform healthcare in Taiwan by making it more personal to individual needs,” says NHIA HERFORE Director Dr. Shih Chung-Liang. “We believe we are the first country to integrate AI into government -backed preventative health initiatives on a national scale.”
This integration of Google AI into the National Health System moves Taiwan towards a globally accepted and transformative health model called value -based care that better distributes health financing to individual needs with a greater focus on improved health results moving away from the more traditional funding method. The use of AI on a national scale accelerates Taiwan’s transition to a preventive health model aimed at improving the effectiveness and quality of healthcare delivery is considered the future of healthcare.